


Eclipse

by Small_Fe



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Original Character(s), Plotty, spoilers through 1x08, westallen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2015-01-21
Packaged: 2018-02-28 07:27:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2723822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Fe/pseuds/Small_Fe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A meta-human that can harness the power of the sun wreaks havoc on Central City and leads to some important revelations between Barry and Iris.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lavender Mint

**Author's Note:**

> This is a non-AU story written to take place after the events of episode 1x08. Be warned, the science here is...shaky. Seriously, don't pull too hard at that thread. I tried, but much like a Republican lawmaker who is trying to deny the existence of climate change or access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare...I am not a scientist. 
> 
> Also, obligatory but important: Obviously, I own nothing. Except Helios, I suppose. And I suspect the Greeks might have something to say about that.

“Are you robbing me?” Iris walks up behind Barry and peers over his shoulder as he shamelessly rummages through her purse where she’d left it behind the counter at Jitters. She absently begins closing out her register without really expecting a reply.

It’s Wednesday, which means that while she has to be at work to open at 6 am, she only works a half shift. Barry always comes over for his break in time for her to close up, and they have a coffee together and catch up before she heads off to study or, more often lately, write her blog.

Wednesdays have become Iris’ favorite day. She would never do it without the motivation of having to be somewhere, but she has come to love being awake at dawn. Last week she’d made Barry come over to walk her to work and watch the sunrise with her. He’d called her on his way over to grumble about having to be up so early and they stayed on the phone until he arrived. He had shown up adorably sleepy and fake-grumpy, going silent only to watch her put on her make-up with a look in his eyes Iris couldn’t quite place because she never understood why he seemed to enjoy watching her get ready so much given how often he’d seen it over the years.

She had let him talk incessantly about how a concept called scattering dictated the colors at sunrise.

“Molecules and small particles in the atmosphere change the direction of light rays, and that causes them to scatter,” he explained and she watched him fondly as he excited himself with the explanation.

She only interrupted his explanation when the sky started to turn red.

“Just look at it, Barry,” she’d breathed. Her grin had been infectious and he’d smiled back at her, watching her watch the morning come. “There’s just something so magical about getting to see a new day begin. You don’t have to believe in the impossible because there is no impossible. Everything feels possible at dawn.” She’d taken his hand for just a moment, and he grinned.

“Yeah, it does,” he’d said simply.

“I know there’s science behind it. I know that. But it doesn’t feel like science can explain something so perfect. Does that make sense?” She turned to him and smiled, and he smiled back.

“Yeah, it does,” he had repeated in a whisper.

Iris is pulled from her thoughts when Barry responds. “No, I’m looking for – why don’t you have any lip balm?” Barry doesn’t look up from where he’s rooting around, making a face when he thinks he’s hit pay dirt but instead unearths another lipstick. Iris continues absently closing out her register.

“It’s in there,” Iris says waving in his general direction.

“No, it’s not,” Barry insists. “There’s lip _stick_. There’s lip _gloss_. But there’s no – ”

Iris grabs the purse and pulls out a small jar and hands it to him with a smirk. Barry eyes it for a moment and gives a wry smile.

“Fantastic,” Barry says drily. “Now is there any chance I can get something that doesn’t smell like a dessert?”

Smiling sweetly, Iris holds the “Well, you _could_ , if you go to the store and get your own.”  Barry rolls his eyes with a smile and takes the lip balm as Iris continues to tease him.

“ _But_ that would require you remembering that you need lip balm, refraining from getting distracted for the _entire length of time_ it takes for you to get to the store, and then – and this is where I think we’d lose you – actually going into the store and _buying_ lip balm instead of forgetting halfway through and coming back with – ”

“You’re hilarious, you know that?” Barry finishes applying the balm, rubs his lips together and hands the jar back to Iris.

“I do know that,” Iris says sincerely and then lets her face break into a knowing smirk. “So.”

Barry gives a small laugh. “So…what?”

“Why do you need lip balm?”

“Moisturizing is…important?” Barry furrows his brow in genuine confusion.

“Seriously, Barry!”  
  
“Seriously, Iris!” Barry laughs. “Since when do I need a reason for using lip balm like every other person on the planet?”

“I’ve known you your entire life, Barry Allen, and never once have I known you to use lip balm without any – ”

“Don’t start,” Barry groans, talking over her.

“Shall we say – external motivation?”

“Oh is that what the kids are calling it?”  
  
“It’s how I knew you were going to kiss Marcie Hall in eighth grade.”  
  
“Yeah, but I _didn’t_ kiss Marcie Hall in eighth grade,” Barry reminds her shaking his head with a small smile.

“Yeah, but you wanted to! And you asked me to borrow my Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers right after Marcie and I invited you to Tommy Middlestone’s party and told you they were going to play Spin the Bottle.”

Barry rolls his eyes at the memory and Iris’ uncanny ability to ignore the fact that she had also been there to extend the invitation.

“So tell me who it is this time,” Iris demands refusing to give up.

 “You are demented,” Barry says with a laugh. He grabs Iris’ jacket as she grabs her purse, and they make their way with their coffees over to a table by the window. “There’s no mystery here. I’ve been running. It’s cold.” Barry shrugs and Iris holds up her hands in surrender.

“OK, I’m dropping it. I’ll find out soon enough if there’s anything to find out. You never could keep a secret.”  
  
Barry looks offended at that. “I can keep a secret better than you!” He exclaims.  “You’ve told me what Joe has gotten me for my birthday _every year_ since we were twelve.”

Iris shoots Barry a disbelieving look. “Barry, you’ve told me so much classified information about work, I honestly think you could be investigated under the Espionage Act.”

As if on cue, Barry’s phone beeps. “Speaking of,” he says with a shrug. “I’m sorry I gotta go. A break-in at…Sixth and Flower.”

“Really?” Iris perks up. “I wonder if it’s the thing I read about last night.  Is it at SunClear?”

Barry continues reading. “Yeah, SunClear headquarters. How did you know that?”

Iris pulls out her laptop proudly. “Someone wrote an anonymous post on my blog – they send all sorts of unexplainable stuff my way now – apparently, someone saw something weird last night.”

“Weird how? And why are these people writing into your blog instead of calling the police?”

Iris reads the post. “’Unexplained sighting last night. I was out late walking by SunClear, and I saw something in their labs. It was a series of three otherworldly bright rays of light. In fact, the light was so bright, I honestly thought I’d lost track of time and the sun was coming up. I even felt the heat radiating from the building from it. Whatever happened in there, something had to have gotten burned to a crisp.’ Then the post goes on to say the guy got freaked out and ran away. He didn’t even know if a crime had been committed. It’s not exactly a call you can make to the cops.”

“Besides, who wants to break into SunClear?”  
  
“Actually, a lot of people,” Iris taps a few keys and brings up a few articles on the company. “A lot of environmentalists have been protesting SunClear for the past year because some of its tactics for increasing reliance on solar power – and specifically _their_ solar power – have seemed unethical. Then about ten months ago, their CEO – Clay Barton – actually resigned over disagreements with the board around new technology.”

“What technology?”  
  
“No clue. It was never disclosed.”

“Whatever happened to Barton?”  
  
Iris’ eyes flitted down. “He died. The night of the – particle accelerator.” She looked up at him. “Sorry.”

“No – it…” Barry lets his voice trail off and then changes the subject. “Well, unless I get there to help them figure out the forensics, anonymous poster guy may get subpoenaed as he’s currently our best lead.”

“Like I’d give up my sources,” Iris scoffs jokingly. “What kind of journalist do you think I am?”

“The kind that can’t keep a secret.” Barry volleys back.

“Hey, thanks, by the way, for confirming the location of that break-in.” Iris smiles and Barry mentally kicks himself, knowing he’s been beat. Iris pulls her lip balm back out and hands it to him.

“Just in case you have to ‘run in the cold’ again,” she says with air quotes and a smug smile.

“Would you please?” Barry rolls his eyes.

“I’m just looking out for you, Barry.”

“You realize this would backfire anyway, right? Say there was a girl – and I’m _not_ saying there is – but say there was, and I went to kiss her. Don’t you think she’d find it a little suspicious when she went to kiss me and I smelled like – whatever this is.”

“Lavender mint,” she supplies.

“Lavender mint,” he repeats shaking his head with a laugh.

He pockets the lip balm and smiles as he walks out, and waits until Iris turns away from where she watches him leave before he disappears into a red blur.

Barry slows himself abruptly in front of SunClear headquarters, peels off his suit and stashes it behind some bushes, making careful note of where he’s left it. He shakes his head with a smile just imagining Cisco’s face if he were to go back to STAR Labs and admit that he lost the suit. Silently deciding to play that prank on Cisco later, he walks into the building and quickly spots Joe and Eddie where they’ve just taped off a crime scene.

“Hey Allen,” Eddie greets him cheerfully. “Were you in the neighborhood? We barely beat you here.”

“I was – yeah. I was in the neighborhood. I was close by. I was actually only a couple blocks away because of another crime scene.” Joe catches his eye and glares at him. Barry mentally kicks himself realizing how easy it would be for Eddie to put together that there wasn’t another crime scene earlier. “But not – it wasn’t like, a big crime scene. It was a small crime, so. You probably wouldn’t have…heard of it.” Barry trails off and Joe stares at him bewildered. Eddie shrugs and seems satisfied and walks off to talk to the officers who arrived first on the scene.

“You are stunningly bad at that.” Joe whispers.

“I’m getting better,” Barry mutters.

“It’s like watching a baby deer learn how to walk.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Barry chooses to ignore Joe’s snickering and instead kneels down to take a closer look at the crime scene. He takes a deep breath and smiles. He loves this part.

Sure, he complains about his job. Sometimes he complains about his job a lot. It seems like Captain Singh is constantly annoyed with him and while he has to admit to himself that he genuinely likes Eddie, working with Iris’ boyfriend was never exactly on his bucket list.

But this part. This part is what makes it his dream job.

When they were younger, he and Iris both swore they’d be cops. They were going to follow in the footsteps of her father and free his. As Barry got older, he realized he had an aptitude for science and a complete dearth of anything resembling aptitude in all things athletic. The idea of being a cop had started to seem less feasible, and it seemed like just one more way he would fail at being able to save his father. But when he was thirteen, he came to visit Joe at the precinct after school, and he saw a forensic scientist for the first time.

“Who’s he?” Barry had asked curiously after the man had given Joe a file explaining aspects of the case that the police hadn’t been able to determine.

“He’s a forensic scientist,” Joe had explained patiently. “He’s just like me – a detective – only he uses science to find his clues.” Barry’s face lit up. After that, Joe made a point of including explanations of what the forensic scientist had done in all the stories he told Barry about his cases. When Barry announced his major in college, Joe was proud, but he wasn’t surprised.

Barry examines the scene for a few minutes and looks up when Eddie walks back over.

“What do you see, Barry?” Eddie asks.

“Break-in. Seems like an inside job. See how the footprints go straight to the lab? No looking around, no backtracking. This guy knew what he was looking for. Forced entry, but it wasn’t a smash and grab – he was careful. Like, he didn’t _want_ to make a mess with it. Like he cared about this place. But he was smart – not prints, no DNA. The really weird thing – “ he glances at Joe, “is the method he used to get in.”

“What was it?”

“Nothing I’ve seen,” Barry notes. “The front door and the door to the lab were burned.” He picks up a piece of the door and shows it to them. “Burned straight through. This stuff was high security and these doors were heavily reinforced – you can’t just put a match to it – it wouldn’t have burned. And it definitely wouldn’t have burned like this.”

“What do you mean?” Eddie comes closer to examine the door.

“Look at the edge,” Barry prompts. “It’s precise. Too precise. More precise than he could have gotten using a blowtorch or something.” Barry gives Joe a significant look when he says, “I don’t know of anything that could have done this.”

Joe gives a sharp, knowing nod as a woman in a white laboratory coat walks up.

“Dr. Abernathy,” Joe begins. “We were just going to come to find you.”

“I hope good news, Detective. My team really doesn’t have time to deal with this today. We’re making an extremely important presentation to our Board of Directors this afternoon.”

“I would recommend that you postpone that presentation, Doctor. You’ve had a serious security breach, and we’re going to need your cooperation if – "

“Postponing isn’t an option, Detective.” Dr. Abernathy’s voice is barely above a whisper and sounds like steep. “We’ll cooperate in your investigation, but I will not postpone today’s presentation.”

Joe’s voice drops to a whisper to Barry. “They’re hiding something. Why don’t you poke around and see what you can find?” They barely have time to share a smile before Barry disappears in a blur.

Joe looks back up at Dr. Abernathy. “We’re going to work on finding a list of suspects, but it would be incredibly helpful if we could get an inventory of what went missing. It’ll help us narrow things down.”

Dr. Abernathy looks nervous as she replies, “we are certain it was a competitor trying to gain advantage over some of the new products we’ll be releasing soon. We can get you a list of possibilities, but we’d rather not disclose highly confidential information – ”

Eddie cuts in. “Doctor, I understand your concern. I do. But we’re not interested in trade secrets. We’re just trying to figure out who – ”

“You’ll have my list by the end of the day, Detectives.” Dr. Abernathy walks away coldly and disappears into a room marked AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Joe barely sees a bright red streak follow her in and then return a second later when another SunClear employee walks out of that room.

“Find anything?” Joe asks quietly, leading Barry toward the exit.

“A set of files were stolen last night, but fortunately, they were backed up on their system.” He pulls out flash drive for a second to let Joe see.

“Anything of interest?”

“It’s all about a top secret project that was in development and has been stalled. I can’t really follow a lot of it.”  
  
“I bet I know a few people who can help with that,” Joe raises his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I’m on my way to STAR Labs now,” Barry starts to leave, but Joe stops him.

“Wait, is there any information you can give me now?”

Barry shrugs. “The project is called Eclipse.” With that, Barry is gone.

At STAR Labs, Caitlin and Dr. Wells pour over the files once Cisco had accessed and unencrypted most of them.

“This is...terrifying,” Catilin concludes at the same time Dr. Wells drawls “fascinating.” Off her look he rolls his eyes.

“Fascinatingly terrifying,” he amends himself unconvincingly.

“Well, please explain because solar power is a little outside of my depth,” Barry sits down next to Cisco.

“SunClear is the biggest solar power plant in Central City, and one of the biggest in the world. This plan – Eclipse – was on set to make them the undisputed biggest.”

“What is Eclipse?”

“Aptly named,” Caitlin explains, “it’s a plan for construction of these super solar panels that absorb, convert, and distribute an unheard of level of solar power. It would also let them store it at a much higher rate, so that it would still be available at night, which is one of the major disadvantages of solar power.”

“Well that all sounds…good.” Barry shrugs.

“It’s definitely smart,” Dr. Wells takes over. “These panels aren’t just strong – they’re Herculean. The surface of the earth receives 120,000 terawatts of solar radiation which is 20,000 times more than what is needed to power the world. These panels can absorb twice that. They can – theoretically – absorb all the energy coming from the sun.”

“That doesn’t seem like something they should be able to do,” Cisco says tentatively.

“It’s definitely controversial. Eclipse was designed so SunClear could essentially corner the market on solar power, making it less abundant, less sustainable, and much more expensive. You’d have to buy solar, and you’d have to buy through them.  They would have Boardwalk and Park Place. They’d make a fortune and no one else could compete. Essentially, they’d own the sun.”

“Cisco we need you to unencrypt the rest of these.” Barry says urgently.

“Hey, I’m on it,” Cisco insists turning back to his computer.” Then after he glances at a scanner his face changes. “Barry,” Cisco says warningly. “Something is happening at the meeting rooms at the Plaza. Something big – ”

“That’s where the SunClear Board of Directors is meeting,” Barry says casting a glance to his suit. “I’m on it.” He disappears leaving a breeze in his wake.

By the time Barry gets to the conference room housed on the top floor of the office buildings in the Plaza, the place has been torched. Burn marks run across the length of the floor and the long conference table in the middle of the room has been burnt in half by a laser-like beam of light. People are running all over the place, screaming. Two bodies are on the ground, burned to a crisp. Next to the man, Dr. Abernathy is on the ground, clearly hurt, and shaking in fear.

In the middle stands a tall man, dressed entirely in black, with scorch marks blazoned into his clothes. His motorcycle boots and black leather jacket smell like ash, and Barry can smell it from across the room. When he turns around, he sees that the man is wearing dark sunglasses and is unarmed.

“You need to stop!” Barry yells at him. “Whatever it is you want – this isn’t the way to get it.”

“I want them stopped,” the man replies simply. “This is exactly the way to get it.” He turns back to Dr. Abernathy.

“Please!” Dr. Abernathy pleads to Barry. “He’s going to kill me! Help me, please!”

The man bends down to whisper to her in a sing-song voice. “You can shut it out, but it doesn’t go away. The truth is like the sun that way.” He raises his hand and Barry sees a flash of light. In an instant, Barry has moved Dr. Abernathy away from the man. The man throws a beam of heat and light at Barry who is able to dodge it – barely. He ends up behind the man and throws him against the wall. His skin sizzles when he touches him, and he steps back. He looks around, sees that Dr. Abernathy is the last person in the room and runs her to the precinct. He heads back to STAR Labs.

 

“Check it out.” Cisco calls the team over to the sample he has been analyzing. “This was taken from the sample Barry got me from Plaza.”

“This isn’t – the chemical compound present is consistent with this having been burned by the sun. At an incredibly close range.” Caitlin peers over Cisco’s shoulder.

“So what? Our meta-human figured out how to weaponize the solar panels and – ” Cisco looks excited in spite of himself.

“No,” Barry insists. “He didn’t have a weapon – he _was_ the weapon. These rays were coming from _him_. He _was_ a solar panel – he hadn’t built the solar panels.”

“Rebuilt,” Caitlin corrects them. “He wouldn’t have had to build them, he would have had to _rebuild_ them. The panels _were_ built according to the rest of the encrypted files. They were built, but then they were destroyed. One guess when.”

“Particle accelerator,” Cisco intones. “Man wasn’t anyone at _home_ the night of that explosion? I swear, just once, I’d like to encounter someone who was doing something normal that night.”

“So the night of the explosion someone was trying to destroy the panels and somehow absorbed their power?” Dr. Wells wheels himself over to one of the computer terminals to pull up a database of SunClear employees. “It would have to have been someone who had clearance and – ”

 

“Try Clay Barton,” Barry remembers. “Former CEO. He had a high-profile fight with the Board over the development of some new technology, and he resigned in protest. He also died the night of the explosion, only what if he didn’t?”

 

“Or maybe someone who was doing something harmless or endearing that night.” Cisco continues. “Like, feeding the homeless. Or holding a kitten. What if someone was holding a kitten and now their superpower is if you cuddle them enough they just fall asleep wherever they are. That would be nice.”

 

“You guys, this was like nothing I’ve ever felt. I had to look away from the blasts they were so bright. When I touched him, I felt like I was being burned.”

“Well, that makes sense. If he has the power of the Eclipse panels, he can actually absorb, channel, and use solar energy at will, like some kind of – sun god.” Caitlin shudders at the thought and jumps when Cisco interjects.

“Helios!” Cisco calls out throwing his hands in the air. “Nailed it!”

“Nice,” Barry nods appreciatively. “Now all we have to figure out is how to stop him. Can you guys figure out any weaknesses of the Eclipse panels from those files? In order to figure out how to stop Helios, I have to figure out how to disengage or destroy those things.”  
  
“Where are you going?” Caitlin asks.

“Barton said something to Dr. Abernathy before he attacked her. About no matter how much you shut it out, the truth and the sun will never go away. Well, he’s got the sun. I’m gonna see if we can get the truth.” Barry disappears.

 


	2. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me

“You let her go? You let Abernathy go? How could you do that, Joe?” Barry stares at Joe disbelievingly. They’re back at the precinct when Barry learns that Dr. Abernathy is no longer in police custody, but Barry’s confusion transforms to sheepishness when Joe fixes him with a glare in return.

“You want to try that again?” Joe asks.

“Sorry. I’m just trying to figure out what happened.”

“Well, what happened was that she was a victim, Barry, not a suspect. So the Flash dropped her off here – thanks for that by the way – we made sure she was OK, took her statement, and had a squad car take her home.” Barry slumps back defeated.

“Well can you get her back here?”  
  
“How?”

“You’re the police!” Barry exclaims.

“Exactly what powers do you think we’re imbued with?” Joe asks laughingly. “I can’t just take a seemingly perfectly innocent person and drag her in – ”

 

“She knew Barton. The other two victims, her and Barton, they were the research team on Eclipse and they ran SunClear together. Isn’t that enough – ”

“Except none of that is information we’re supposed to have. First, as far as everyone else is concerned, Barton is dead, so we can’t treat him like a suspect. And we didn’t exactly get the Eclipse files from SunClear by legal means so – ”

“Well what if it doesn’t come from you? What if you say you got the information from the Flash?”

“I can’t use any information you give me as the Flash without revealing to everyone that here that I know who you are. It’s not safe. Especially now that my partner is heading up a task force to bring him in.”

“We have to do something, Joe,” Barry pleads. “I heard Barton at the Plaza. He whispered something to her about the truth coming out. She knows something, and she’s not telling, and I think it can help us figure out what turned Barton into Helios.”

Joe gives a considering look at the nickname and then nods. “Tell Cisco not bad.”

“I just – I don’t think he’s a bad guy, Joe.”

“Barry, he killed two people.” Joe reminds him.

 

“It’s just – he was wearing sunglasses.” Barry insists. Off Joe’s confused look he continues. “He – he can control the power of the sun with his hands and his eyes, but he wore these thick, dark glasses and motorcycle gloves. Like he wanted to control it. Like he didn’t want to hurt people indiscriminately. I’m not saying it’s OK that he killed two people. I’m just saying it seems like he’s taken precautions so that his powers don’t hurt everyone he comes into contact with. So it’s worth figuring out why he was OK hurting those two people.”

“Sorry, kid,” Joe says affectionately. “You figure out another way to raise questions about SunClear’s involvement in the disappearance of Barton and today’s attack, and I’ll bring Abernathy back in for questioning…in a flash.” Joe gives a silly grin at his wordplay, and his smile turns genuine when he’s rewarded with a reluctant smile from Barry.

When Joe leaves, Barry pulls out a copy of the flash drive he hung on to after Cisco made a copy. It contains the Eclipse documents and the explanation Caitlin and Dr. Wells wrote up. He can’t believe what he’s about to do, but he asks himself what he always asks in moments when he’s truly at a loss – _what would Iris tell me to do?_ This time, the answer is easy. He palms his phone and sends a quick text.

_To Iris West: Hey Bernstein. How serious were you when you said you wouldn’t reveal a source?_

_To Barry Allen: If you’re the source? More serious than I’ve ever been about anything. What’s up, Barry?_

_To Iris West: Check your email. I’m sending you some documents. The subject line is Eclipse._

_To Barry Allen: Checking now._

_To Iris West: And Iris, when you write the story, say Clay Barton disappeared the night of the particle accelerator – not died._

_To Barry Allen: Barry, why are you giving me this?_

Barry smiles before sending the last text.

_To Iris West: I guess I can’t keep a secret._

Iris hears footsteps at the door almost thirty minutes after she posts her story, and she expects it to be Barry. When the visitor knocks, she’s confused, and goes to the window to see that it’s Eddie. The slight disappointment she feels is immediately replaced by guilt that she was disappointed at all, so when she answers the door, it’s with too much enthusiasm born from an attempt to assuage her guilt.

“Hi sweetie!” she trills happily and pulls him inside. “What’s going on? Did we have plans?” she looks at him quizzically and only then registers that he’s upset.

“What the hell, Iris?” he demands angrily stalking inside.

Immediately her hackles are raised. “What the hell – what?”

He holds up where he’s printed out her latest blog entry and begins to read. “’The Eclipse panels were at the root of Barton’s conflict with the Board. Today’s attack is notable for happening the same day that reconstruction of the panels was once again on the Board’s agenda. The two killed during the attack were Drs. Mark Langham and Eugene Collins, research scientists at SunClear who, along with Dr. Carol Abernathy and Barton were the developers of the controversial technology. Dr. Abernathy – the sole survivor of the attack thanks to the quick work of the Flash – may be the only key to unraveling the full mystery of the Eclipse plan and Clay Barton’s disappearance.’”

“Yeah, you know, Eddie, I appreciate the recitation, but I actually wrote this so – ”

“And clever title – Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me. I like it. It’s not click bait – you actually have to read it to know what it’s about. Risky for a blog, but it shows integrity.” His words drip with sarcasm, so she returns in kind.   
  
“You know, you’re saying nice things, but the tone of your voice implies – ”

“Give me your source on this, Iris.”  
  
Iris blinks. “Um. No.”

He narrows his eyes. “Iris."

“ _Eddie_.” Iris responds simply then after a beat she adds, “Are you asking me as a cop or my boyfriend?”  
  
“Whichever one will get me an answer.”  
  
“Neither will, but one will piss me off a _lot_ more.” She throws her hands up in exasperation. “You know this is the most views my blog has gotten since I started it? Real news sites are picking up and quoting _my_ story. I had to buy more bandwidth to handle the extra traffic, people have started emailing me clips hoping to _write_ for me, and my boyfriend’s reaction –”

“Is to wonder where the hell you got access to a bunch of clearly stolen documents.”

“What exactly is your problem with this? That after getting an exclusive about a high-profile and unsolved double homicide in the middle of town a journalist wrote a story about it? Because that's what almost always happens."  
  
“My problem is that you got leaked information in a case I was working, and instead of calling me with that information and making it more likely I can get this guy off the street, you wrote a blog post about it. My problem is that there’s a psychopath out there, and not only are you making it much more difficult for me to protect you and everyone else, but you’re actually making yourself a target. And my problem is that you’re not going to tell me where you got this information, are you?”

“No, I’m not, and if you know me at all you understand why, so – ” Iris throws up her hands in exasperation. “You don’t get to do this, Eddie. You knew when you started your task force there would be times where I’d have information about something unexplainable and that we wouldn’t be able to talk about it. Coming here, and demanding my source the first time I – ”

“Come on, Iris!” Eddie exclaims frustrated. He scrubs his hand across his face and then confronts what is really at the root of his anger. “Was it him? Is the Flash your source?”

Iris’ voice immediately softens. “Eddie – ”

“Was he your source on this? After what he did to me?”  
  
“Eddie, after what he did to you, I told him I never wanted to see him again. You know me. You know that.”

“Then tell me who it was, Iris. He was the only one at the scene that would have had time to get these files after the attack and get them to you. This only happened a few hours ago, so if it wasn’t him, tell me who it was.”  
  
“Eddie, it wasn’t him. But I can’t tell you who it was.”  
  
“On principle?”  
  
“Principles are important, Eddie. This one is. To me, this is one of the most important principles. I can’t tell you where I got this information, but because I care about you, I will promise you, it wasn’t from the Flash.”

Eddie looks at her hard and then gives a shrug.

“You don’t believe me?” Iris is incredulous.

“Well, you can’t exactly blame me, Iris.”  
  
“Well, that’s funny because you’re exactly who I blame. I don’t lie in my life, and I’m not lying to you now.”  
  
“Well you weren’t exactly forthcoming about seeing the Flash in the first place, were you?”  
  
Iris looks like she’s been slapped. “You know, Eddie, you can call me a lot of things – and let’s face it, you just did – but you _cannot_ question my loyalty.”

They stare at each other for another minute, and Iris bites her inner cheek to stop herself from crying.

“I should go,” Eddie says finally.

“Yeah, you should,” Iris closes the door.

Back at the precinct, Eddie stares at the paperwork on his desk wondering if he can make it disappear just by being so frustrated it exists. Barry has to call his name twice before he looks up.

“Hey,” Barry begins uncertainly. “S-sorry, Joe sent me to get you. They just sent a car to go pick up Abernathy, and he wants both of us in when he questions her.” He gives a small smile in answer to the unspoken question. “I’m helping with the science.”

“Sure,” Eddie continues staring at his desk. “Let’s go.” He starts to stand but sits back down with a sigh and rubs his face.

“What’s up?” Barry asks concerned. He likes Eddie. He doesn’t always like that he likes Eddie, but he does. And the heartbroken look on his face right now is making him wonder – “Is it Iris?”

Eddie nods grimly. “She didn’t call you? I don’t know if that’s a good or bad sign. We – I don’t know. We fought. It was a big fight. I don’t know if we’ll – ” Eddie looks up at Barry. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be talking about this to you. I know you have to take her side regardless. I just don’t – ”

“You read her blog,” Barry says simply.

“I don’t understand someone who lives in a world of cops and insists on putting herself in positions – ”

Eddies looks up when Barry chuckles and sits down next to him. “You’ve been dating her long enough to not be this confused by her.”  
  
“It doesn’t mean it gets less frustrating,” Eddies insists tightly.

“When Iris and I were kids, Joe taught us how to play chess. I loved it. I loved the strategy and how every move was supposed to set up the next five. But Iris – she said she didn’t get it. Being the arrogant child I was, I assumed she meant she didn’t understand the gamesmanship, so I started trying to explain it to her. And finally she stopped me and said, ‘no Barry. I don’t get the Queen.’ So I explained that she was the most important piece on the board. Sure, the game ends when your King is captured, but really, it’s all about the Queen. And she said, ‘yeah, that’s what I don’t get. The Queen is only the most important because she’s the strongest. So she should be protecting everyone else.’” Barry laughs and shakes his head at the memory. “I’ve known her since I’m five. And I don’t have a story or a moment that better explains Iris than that.”

Eddie nods slowly. “Yeah – that. Yeah.”

“What’s really bothering you?” Eddie looks surprised by Barry’s frankness. “No, look, I get it. Trying to protect someone who is busy trying to protect everyone else can be infuriating, but not all of a sudden. What’s bothering you about this time in particular?”

“She’s seeing the Flash again.” Eddie says simply. “She wouldn’t give up her source on the Eclipse documents, and it could only have been him. And I can’t compete with – I won’t compete with _another_ guy for her….” He trails off and Barry tries desperately to ignore the fact that he emphasized “another” in a way that implied he felt like he was already competing with someone.

Instead, he focuses on the sick feeling in his stomach. He remembers Iris showing up at his door the night she’d told the Flash not to contact her again. He remembers having to use his speed to clean up and hide the fact that he had been crying and how shocked he was to open the door and realize she was crying too. They sat on his apartment floor and let a tub of ice cream melt while she told him how difficult it was for her, but that she had to do it out of loyalty to Eddie.

Barry is so struck by guilt and something he doesn’t want to admit is glee it almost knocks him over. Iris let Eddie leave angry rather than give up his name. Maybe she would choose Eddie over the Flash. But she would choose him over Eddie. _But I can’t let her_ , he admits to himself almost as quickly as he has the thought.

“It was me,” Barry blurts out. “I was her source.” Eddie looks up disbelievingly. “Ask her. Anonymous sources don’t have to be protected when they’re not anonymous anymore.”

Barry continues. “When we went to visit SunClear I noticed some stuff in the lab that made me wonder about Abernathy, so my friend Cisco helped me hack into their system, and I got the documents. Obviously, I couldn’t just turn them over because Cisco and I could have gotten in trouble. I was just trying to help.”

Eddie nods. “Look, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Even Joe.”

“Thanks,” Barry gives a small smile. “You have a little time before Abernathy gets here.” Barry nods toward the phone.

“Thanks Barry. For the other thing too. Thanks.”  
  
“Yeah,” Barry says emptily. As he walks away, he kind of can’t believe he just talked Iris’ boyfriend into making up with her, but he can’t even bring himself to be upset. Not when it meant Iris would get what she wants.

When Iris answers the phone, she only knows the call is coming from CCPD, so she answers neutrally.

“Iris, I’m sorry,” Eddie begins genuinely contrite. “I talked to Barry. He told me he was your source. I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you,” Iris says shortly.

“I never should have doubted you to begin with. But – ”

“ _But_?” Iris asks incredulously.

“You let me leave, thinking you’d betrayed me rather than tell me it was Barry. And if that was just fidelity to the First Amendment, I guess I could deal with that, but it was also fidelity to _him_. Which is, frankly, amazing. I love your loyalty, Iris. I think it was probably the first thing I loved about you. I just wish that same loyalty had made you stop me from walking away. And I don’t know how much longer I can wait for that level of loyalty to get applied to me too.”

Iris is dumbfounded. Even more so when she realizes she can’t disagree. “I honestly don’t know what you want me to say,” she says simply.   
  
“I think you should stay at your place tonight,” Eddie’s voice shakes. 

Iris gives a joyless laugh at that. “Yeah,” she says quietly. They both hang up in silence.

“You guys figure it out?” Barry asks awkwardly when Eddie walks up to the interrogation room.

“Yeah,” Eddie nods as he opens the door and Barry follows him in. 


	3. Bring on the Night

Back at her house, Iris gets an anonymous message on her blog:

_I wasn’t contacted to comment on your story. If you want to do a follow-up, meet me at Jitters._

Iris catches her breath. This is the man behind the attack at the Plaza, but she can’t bring herself to be afraid. From what she’s heard from posts about that attack, if he wanted her dead, she’d be dead. Besides, he tracked her down, and offered to meet her at her job instead of just coming to her house. He was letting her make the choice about whether she wanted to meet him. She made the choice, and grabbed her coat on the way out of the house.

Back at the precinct, Eddie, Joe, and Barry sit around a table with Dr. Abernathy. Joe begins the questioning.

“Dr. Abernathy – Carol. Do you mind if I call you Carol?”

“You might as well,” she shrugs. “He used to call me Carrie. But no one else calls me that.”

“Are you talking about Barton?” Barry asks and barely recognizes his voice.

When Iris walks into Jitters, he’s already there. Standing and waiting for her. She stares at him for a moment before asking, “Are you Clay Barton?”

“Yes, Clay,” Abernathy answers Barry, almost fondly. “We were all so young when we met. Me, Clay, Mark, and Gene. Right out of grad school and picked to lead a research and development team at a small subsidiary of Queen Consolidated. We were convinced solar power was the wave of the future, and once we made a name for ourselves with some early solar technology, we branched off and started our own company. But we couldn’t afford to rent a lab at that time in Starling, so we moved our headquarters to Central City.”

“That’s how you started SunClear?” Barry leads her.

“When we first started, do you know what our slogan was? _Bring on the Night_. It was – it was supposed to be clever. At the time, the biggest knock against solar power was that it meant only having access to power during the day, so as we started experimenting with storing solar power, we used it to brand the company. We were so arrogant. We honestly thought we were going to change the world.”

“Dreamers and monsters,” Barton whispers quietly to Iris who walks closer to hear him. “We used to have this saying – Gene got from his dad. ‘Everyone wants to change the world, but only two type of people who actually try: Dreamers and monsters.’”

“Which were you?” Joe asks Abernathy, who shakes her head slowly.

“I don’t know,” she says simply.

“Solar power is _the_ wave of the future,” Barton explains. “Clean coal is an industry myth and nuclear is too dangerous. And I don’t understand what Ethanol does which differentiates me _not at all_ from the morons trying to sell corn as a type of fuel. If you’re thinking about the next generation…solar power is the only way. That was the whole business model of SunClear.”

“What happened?” Iris asks.

“What always happens?” Abernathy bites the words. “The better at it we got, the worse we became. It’s a really old story. We made solar power more accessible and less expensive and we got really, really rich doing it. And then suddenly we woke up and our business model wasn’t just making solar power the wave of the future, but making _our_ solar power the wave of the future.”  
  
“So you developed Eclipse.” Barry nods.

“It was brilliant. We could figure out a way to harness and store the energy from the sun in our panels, and sell access to it. If we could make everyone dependent on solar power and then control access, we’d figured out how to monetize the sun. PR-wise it was a coup because it seemed environmentally sound – the panels were energy efficient and the power source was sustainable, but we would be the only ones who could control it.”

“But then you got religion. Why?” Iris looks at Barton who looks distant for a moment before answering.

“I started thinking about the next generation.”

“You were pregnant?” Eddie looks at Abernathy who has started to cry.

“Clay and I were engaged. And – it wasn’t planned, but it was – we were happy. And it changed our perspective – it _gave us_ perspective – about what kind of world we wanted to create.  So he and I went to Mark and Gene and asked them to stop work on the panels. We were finished with construction and were set to being testing.”

“They said they wouldn’t do it,” Barton closes his eyes at the memory. “I went to the Board and resigned and they still wouldn’t budge. And they said if we tried to block development, they’d destroy us, bankrupt us. Force us out of SunClear. It would become a battle over patents, and they’d have the legal resources of SunClear at their disposal. There’s no way we could have won. Carrie thought we should just give up and let Eclipse happen, but I talked her into helping me destroy the panels and steal the plans so they couldn’t be reconstructed.”

“The morning the particle accelerator was set to go off, Clay and I went to SunClear labs. We went to the roof where we were keeping them for testing. But Mark and Gene were already there. Clay tried to destroy the panels, but they activated them to try to stop him from coming any closer.”

“When I touched those panels, I felt a surge like nothing I’d ever felt before. It – the sun _went through_ me.” Barton looks down to his hands and flexes his fingers. “I fell to the ground and one of the panels fell on top of me and pinned me down, and I called out for Carrie to do something. To call an ambulance. To do anything. I know she could hear me. Because I could hear them.”

“Mark told me it was too late. And if I went to the police now, we’d all be blamed for his death. He told me I could save myself and my child and the future of SunClear if I just let – ”

“You let him burn to death,” Barry’s voice is icily quiet. “That panel on top of him was directing 120,000 terawatts of solar radiation into his body and burning him from the inside out.”

Abernathy’s head falls and she sobs silently for a moment. “We decided to say it was an accident. That he was going up to begin testing and he fell. It wasn’t a perfect story because he had just had a high-profile disagreement with the Board over the technology. So when they particle accelerator accident happened that night, we saw an opportunity and just let his death get swept up in all the other devastation from that night. When we went back to the lab, and his body was gone, we didn’t know what had happened, but we assumed his body was simply destroyed.”

“When I woke up, I was this.” Barton finishes. “I don’t know what happened, but the best I can tell, the radiation from the storm caused by the particle accelerator reacted with the solar radiation that was pumped into my body and allowed me to continue living as a human solar panel.”

Iris’ eyes are filled with tears after Barton’s story. Her voice wavers when she speaks, but it’s clear. “I can help you. Or at least – I know people who can. My best friend was hurt the night of the particle accelerator too. But he was helped by this team of doctors. I’m absolutely convinced that they can do anything because they saved his life, so they saved mine, too. They can help you, too. But you have to stop killing people. What Carrie did to you was awful, Clay, but, you can be something besides this. You can be something better than this. You can use the powers you’ve been given to save people.”

“You’re…Iris? That’s your name?” Iris nods and for the first time since they started talking, she is afraid as she listens to the cold tone of his voice.

“Do you know what it feels like to burn to death, Iris? Because I do. And that pain is dwarfed only by the pain of watching the faces of the people who love you most in the world watch you die. Out of greed. And fear. And a desire to own the sky. _That’s_ humanity. That’s not worth saving. No, I’ve seen the edge of the world, and there is no salvation for people. When the sun goes out, there’s just a lot of darkness.”

Iris grabs her phone and without looking down, posts a message on her blog:

_If you’re out there, he’s here. I need your help._

“Why did you want to meet with me?” Iris backs away from Barton slowly.

“I wanted the truth to come out.”

When the Flash appears he immediately senses Iris’ fear and positions himself between her and Barton before speaking.

“Stop! Listen. I know who you are. I know you’re Clay Barton, and I know what happened to you. You should know that CCPD has Carrie Abernathy in custody right now, and she will be charged for what she did to you. You don’t have to do this.”  
  
Barton shakes his head. “You have to know this won’t end. They’ll try again. Maybe it won’t be Carrie or Mark or Gene, but somewhere, someone is out there, right now, designing something that will make people the worst versions of themselves. And they’re not all monsters. That’s the worst part – they’re monsters _and_ they’re dreamers. Every last one of them. But they’re plotting a way to change the world and make it different only they’ll call it ‘better.’ They’re plotting a way to amass a lot of power only they’ll call it ‘innovation’ or ‘science.’ They’re plotting a way to control people only they’re call it ‘ _salvation_.’ Well, I’d sooner burn the sun out of the sky than watch SunClear or any other company with the same end goal try to own the power of solarity.”

Iris’ eyes widen as she understands. “You took the Eclipse panel plans, not to stop SunClear from using them, but so you could use them yourself. You’re not trying to stop Eclipse, you’re trying to steal it. _You’re_ going to destroy the sun.”  
  
“I’m going to free it.”

Iris steps out from behind the Flash so Barton can see her. “Clay, what about Carrie? What about the baby? She was pregnant – you have a _child_ who will die if you do this!”   
Barton’s eyes go soft and for a moment, Iris thinks she has him. She steps forward again, but when his face shifts, she freezes. “She lost the baby,” he says softly.

Iris tries again. “I’m so sorry, Clay. And I can tell that you are too. On the Internet, they’re calling you Helios. But I don’t think that’s who you are. I think there’s still a part of Clay Barton who didn’t burn that day. And I need him to let us help him.”

The Flash watches closely, and the second Barton’s hand flickers toward Iris, he’s on him. He throws Barton across the room, redirecting the ray he had just thrown and burning the wall near Iris. Iris moves quickly behind the counter. Barton looks almost shocked that he had done that and his eyes widen at the realization. He quickly retreats out of Jitters. Barry breathes deeply and considers going after him, but opts instead to see if Iris is OK.

She pulls herself out from behind the counter. “Thanks,” she gives him a small smile.

“Anytime.” Barry uses the Flash voice, which is convenient because he thinks his voice would probably shake right now anyway. “I mean it, Iris. Anytime you need me. I’ll always be here. I honestly can’t tell you how sorry I am about that night.”  
  
She holds up her hands. “I get it. I know. I knew it then, for what it’s worth. But – he was my boyfriend.”  
  
“Was?” Barry looks at her genuinely confused.

“I don’t think we’re seeing each other anymore or, at least, he’s not seeing me.” She shrugs sadly.

"Are you OK?" 

Iris smiles and ducks back behind the counter. Barry has to bite back a smile because he knows what she's doing. She emerges with a bottle of wine a little over half full and he smiles.

"Leftovers from the impromptu celebration I had here with my best friend the other night when I finished my last paper of the semester," she says with a smile. He uses his speed to open the bottle and empty the contents of the bottle into one large glass for her. The next thing she knows, they are on the roof of Jitters and she is holding a precariously full glass of wine.

"Thank you," she smiles, "for not making me share." She takes a big sip and he smiles back. She sits down on the steps, and he sits a few feet in front of her on the ledge. They sit in silence for a couple of minutes as she makes impressive headway on her wine before he speaks again. 

“I’m sorry,” he says sincerely.

“Are you?” Iris with a small smile.

“Of course,” Barry sputters and then realizes she’s teasing.

“No, it’s just – the last time you asked about him, it seemed like maybe you wouldn’t have been particularly upset if we broke up.”

Barry is always grateful when he is able to say things to Iris as the Flash that are true for him as well, so he shrugs himself off the ledge and says, “I’m upset when you’re upset.”

“Well, I’m surprisingly fine. Maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet. Maybe it's the wine. Or maybe it’s just the adrenaline from having faced down the sun like a _boss_.” She laughs and he laughs back.

“Yeah, you were pretty boss-like.”

“Thank you.” She drains her glass and stands up on slightly wobbly legs. She walks closer to him and he steps back, bumping into the ledge behind him.

“You know, for a quick guy, you sure are slow to make a move.”  
  
“You – you want – a – move?” Barry swallows hard and tries to will himself to be slightly smoother. “We really shouldn’t.”  
  
“Why?” she asks with a teasing lilt to her voice. “You scared of moving too fast?”

He smiles. "You've been drinking," he ventures. 

"I'm fine," she says smoothly. 

She takes another step forward and he doesn’t retreat this time, but he does start to vibrate his face.

“Stop doing that with your face,” she orders softly. “I’ll keep my eyes closed.”

Barry’s thoughts begin to whir. He doesn’t want their first kiss to be as the Flash, but he can’t exactly say no to her right now. She’s so close and he can feel her breath and he feels like his whole life is flashing before his eyes right now and apparently the only thing he's ever done in his life worth remembering is to love her and this may be his only chance, but one day she’ll find out who he is and she would feel betrayed by Barry, but she also may feel betrayed by the Flash if he rejects her now after flirting with her for weeks, and – then his brain shut down. Because Iris’ hand was on his cheek.

She leans in slowly, and he lets himself be caught up in the moment, promising he’ll keep it chaste – a peck – and pull back quickly. Somehow she beats him to it, and pulls back the second their lips touch. She keeps her eyes closed for a minute while her head is flooded with memories that swim together in her mind.

_He was the only one at the scene that would have had time to get these files after the attack and get them to you._

_This only happened a few hours ago._

_I talked to Barry. He told me he was your source._

_I have a friend that was hurt the night of the particle accelerator._

_There’s no mystery here. I’ve been running. It’s cold._

Iris’ eyes pop open and Barry immediately begins vibrating his face.

“You opened your eyes,” he says breathless from nervousness.

“You’re wearing my lip balm,” she responds quietly.

Barry’s face goes slack and his blood runs cold for a second. His brain whirs trying to think of anything to say but because he has nothing, he simply breathes. “Lavender mint.”  
  
“Lavender mint,” she repeats. Her eyes are hard as she reaches out to put her hand on the back of his head and pulls his mask off. Barry stands staring at Iris and Iris stares back at Barry. 


	4. The Thing About Darkness

Iris can’t believe her eyes, so she closes them.

When she opens her eyes, she’s in Eddie’s bed, and her alarm is going off. Eddie rolls over and puts his arms around her, and she sits up straight.

“Oh my god!” she exclaims laughingly. “Eddie, pass me my phone? I just had the most hilarious dream about Barry, and I have to call him right now – ”

***************************************************************************************************************************************************

When she opens her eyes, Barry is laughing hysterically at her, doubled over, trying to catch his breath so he can speak. “I got you, Iris! I totally got you!” He keeps laughing and claps his hands happily. “I can’t believe it worked. This is payback for last April Fool’s Day! Look!” He places his hands on her shoulders so he can spin them around so they are facing wall and points. “There are cameras there and there and – ”

***************************************************************************************************************************************************

When she opens her eyes, Barry raises his hands in surrender and begins, “Iris – ” She walks toward him and punches him in the face.

***************************************************************************************************************************************************

When she opens her eyes, they are filled with tears, but she doesn’t cry.

“Iris,” Barry’s voice is barely more than a whisper. “I –”

“How could you – how could you not tell me this?” Barry’s heart breaks when he hears that Iris sounds small. In his life, he’s never heard Iris West sound small.

“Eddie broke up with me tonight because I chose you over him.  _Again_. Because he’s tired of feeling like he’ll never be as close to me as you are. But he was wrong because we’re not really that close, are we. Because you have a secret like  _this_ , and you didn’t even tell me?” 

Barry looks devastated but stays silent as Iris continues.

“Who knows?”

“What?”  
  
“Who else knows about you?”

“Joe.” 

Iris’ head drops and she gives a short nod. Then she looks back up. “Who else? Who did you tell about this before you told me?”

“Dr. Wells. Cisco and Caitlin. Oliver Queen. Felicity.” Iris folds her arms and glares at him and Barry takes a deep breath. “I also told a couple of meta-humans, but they – they’re both dead now,” he says significantly.

When Iris’ face remains stony, Barry gives a tiny sad smile. “I guess you were right. I really can’t keep a secret.”  
  
“We were both right. You can’t keep a secret. Unless it’s from me,” Iris shrugs.

“Iris. I never meant to have this be something I was keeping from you. I wanted – I  _needed_ to keep you safe.”

Iris looks at him disbelievingly and responds with sarcasm. “How’s that working out so far? Oh, wait, hold on, my hair’s still a tiny bit on fire from when Helios attacked me earlier.”

“That’s why I begged you to stop writing your blog!”  
  
“Right! By telling me the entire thing was made up, and I was being ridiculous and believing urban legends and…you gaslighted me, Barry! You made me doubt myself! I never thought you would ever do that.”

At that Barry loses his battle with the tears welling up in his eyes. Tears spill down his cheeks, and in spite of herself, Iris lets her own tears flow when she sees Barry start to cry.

“Iris, I’m so sorry. I-It wasn’t – when this happened to me, I thought – I didn’t mean – ” Barry’s voice breaks.

“No,” Iris shakes her head. “Finish that sentence. When this happened, you thought  _what_? I’m honestly curious. Because I imagine you felt scared and excited and… _possibility._  I imagine you knew you’re entire life was about to change.”

Iris takes a step toward Barry and continues. “So I want to know what you thought when you realized that. Because in the moments of  _my_  life when I’ve felt the most scared and the most excited and the most possibility. In the moments where I’ve seen proof of the impossible and evidence of hope. In the moments where I knew my life was about to change forever. The first thing I think is,  _I have to tell Barry_. You. You’re my first thought. You are  _always_  my first thought. I can’t believe I wasn’t yours.”

“You  _are_  mine!” Barry promises through tears. “You are always my first thought. I think you were probably my  _very_  first thought. Like, I think before I ever thought anything, I probably thought,  _Iris_. So – when I realized that the people closest to me would be the most at risk, the first thing I thought was…Iris. I wanted to protect you. You have to understand that.”

“I do,” Iris nods. “Because I remember wanting to protect you, too. When you lost your family, I wanted to protect you. I wanted you to feel safe with me. So I believed in the impossible. For you. I tried to protect you by being the one person who trusted you. You tried to protect me by making me the one person you didn’t trust enough.”

Iris turns to walk downstairs, and Barry uses his speed to cut her off.

“Iris – it’s not.” 

“Don’t move. Don’t you dare use your speed to follow me or leave me here staring after you like you have every other night.” She wipes a tear from her eye and looks at him with steely resolve. “ _I’m_ walking out on  _you_.”

She walks downstairs, grabs her things, and leaves Jitters. Barry waits until he hears her leave before going downstairs. He waits for what feels like forever.

The next morning, when Caitlin walks in to STAR Labs, she is taken aback when she sees Barry sitting there, drinking coffee, oddly not from Jitters, and staring into the distance.

“Barry?” She asks uncertainly. “What are you doing here so early? Is everything OK? Did something happen with Helios?”

“What?” Barry is pulled from his thoughts. “Um, no. Not since – uh – the text I sent you guys last night. Cisco said he was going to look into some stuff…”

“Barry?” Caitlin asks again. She pulls out a chair and sits down next to him. He looks up at her sheepishly. “What happened?”

Barry takes a deep breath. “Uh. Remember how you told me that I maybe wasn’t handling the Iris situation super well? And that you were afraid she was going to figure it out before I got a chance to tell her?”

Caitlin nods, so Barry continues. “Remember how I mentioned in the text I sent last night that Helios went after Iris?”  
  
Caitlin nods again and Barry stares at her expectantly. When she continues to look at him blankly he sighs. “And remember how…you know. You’re always right?”  
  
“Barry!” Caitlin exclaims in realization and smacks him on the shoulder. “What did you do?”  
  
“I didn’t do anything,” Barry slumps. “She figured it out.

“Imagine that,” Caitlin blurts out sarcastically and immediately looks apologetic.

“And now she hates me.”  
  
“She doesn’t hate you,” Caitlin shakes her head.   
  
“You didn’t see her face.”

“Barry, you had to know that when she finally did find out, she might be hurt.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think she’d – Caitlin, in our lives, she has never looked at me like that. Like – like she didn’t know me.” Barry looks up miserably. “She’s my best friend. She’s my – ”

“She’s the love of your life,” Caitlin supplies quietly and Barry looks up at her in alarm.

“Who – she’s not – ”

“Barry, it’s fine. I – I think there are cadavers in my lab that figured it out.”

Barry looks embarrassed for a minute, but then shakes his head sadly. “It’s not like it matters. All it means is that I’ll never talk to the love of my life again.”

“No, Barry. I’ll never talk to the love of  _my_  life again.” Barry looks at her sympathetically, and she shrugs sadly and looks at him. “Yours is just mad at you.”

“She’s never been this mad at me before. Not when I totally blew our cover in eleventh grade when we skipped school to drive to Starling for a concert. Not when I accidentally melted her favorite earrings during a failed science experiment. Not even when I backed up Joe when he forbade her from joining the academy.”

“What did she say?”  
  
“She said I didn’t trust her. Which is – I can’t believe she would doubt that. She knows me better than anyone in the whole world. I’ve trusted her with every secret I’ve ever had.”

“I don’t think that’s what she meant. I mean, I don’t think she was doubting whether you thought she wouldn’t keep your secret. Like, whether you didn’t tell her because she might betray your confidence and write a blog outing you as the Flash.”

“Then what do you think she meant?”

Caitlin sighs. “When Ronnie went downstairs to try to contain the explosion the night – the night he died, he didn’t tell me what he was doing. He told Cisco, but he didn’t tell me. And – in a way – he did it because he didn’t trust me.”

“Caitlin, you can’t think that – ”

“No, Barry, it’s true. And it’s fine. Because he was right. If he had told me, I wouldn’t have let him go. He didn’t trust me to let him be who he was because who he was…was a hero. And I…” Caitlin trails off, and she is sure she and Barry are both remembering her words from a few weeks ago.  _I didn’t want him to be a hero. I wanted him to be my husband_. 

“Barry,” Caitlin continues, “I don’t know Iris. But I know how you talk about her, and you say she brings out the best in you. She had to wonder if you doubted that. She had to wonder if you didn’t tell her because you thought she’d think it was too dangerous and so she wouldn’t want you to be the Flash. She had to wonder if you didn’t trust her to see you as a hero.”

“Iris would – Iris believes in the Flash. And possibly more than that, she believes in me. She would never ask me to be less than I am.”

“Are you sure?”  
  
“More sure than I’ve ever been about anything.”

Caitlin nods. “Well, then it must be pretty painful for her. To have to wonder if you ever questioned that.”

Cisco walks in. “Barry! You’re…early!” He looks at Caitlin confused. “I didn’t even think that was something you were capable of being.” He grins at Barry who smiles weakly back. Caitlin rubs his arm affectionately, and Cisco looks apologetic. “Sorry. Am I interrupting?”

“Nope. Just Caitlin kicking my ass for being an idiot.”

Cisco grins again. “Oh, well then by all means. Finish.”

“Your ass seems sufficiently kicked.” Caitlin smiles.

Barry smiles back. “Thank you,” he says sincerely.

Cisco continues. “Perfect. Then if you guys are done, I need all eyes on me. Because I think I figured out a way to stop Helios.”

Dr. Wells comes in, and moves next to Caitlin and Barry for the presentation.

“Nice of you to join us, Dr. Wells,” Barry says with a sly smile and is rewarded with a smirk from Dr. Wells.

Cisco turns on his computer and plugs in a projector and displays it on the big screen. He pulls up the unencrypted Eclipse files. 

“OK, Barton’s body has been burned clean through. If it weren’t for the energy he’s getting from the sun, there’s no way he’d still be alive. Solar power is keeping him alive at this point. Which makes him vulnerable. Because at any given moment, a significant amount of the solar power he absorbs is being used just to keep him alive, and only the rest can help him to use his powers.”

“But the Eclipse panels can store an unheard of level of power,” Caitlin reminds him.

“Which means he’s vulnerable at night,” Dr. Wells interjects, realizing. “During the day, he can use the sun to power himself and still have plenty to use his powers, but at night, he has to rely on stored energy both to keep him alive and keep him fighting.”  
  
“Exactly,” Cisco declares happily.

“Great, so I make my move at night?” Barry shrugs.

“Right before sunrise. He’ll be at his lowest energy point right before he’d be able to repower. If you can engage him, and just keep him fighting, he’ll eventually get weak enough for you to overpower him.”

“OK, but, what do I do with him once I catch him?”

“Dose him with this.” Cisco hands Barry a syringe.

“What is this?”

“It’s an incredibly powerful sedative, mixed with a potent cooling agent. It will knock him out, but it will also combat at least some of the compounds in his body, significantly weakening his solar abilities. You’ll be able to touch his skin without burning.”

“Cisco, this is great work. I can’t believe you got this done so fast.”

“I know. I’m kind of a badass. I don’t like word to get around but – ”

“Don’t worry, it hasn’t.” Caitlin says with a smile.

As he laughs, Barry’s phone rings. He answers when he sees that it’s Joe. “Hey, what’s up, Joe?”

“You know what would be great? A quick, ‘hey, Joe, by the way. Iris found out about the Flash and she’s not speaking to either of us.’”

Barry’s hand goes to his head in frustration. “Joe, I’m so sorry,” he groans. “I meant to text you last night. She…figured it out.”

“Oh, I know she figured it out. She woke me up when she got home and told me – very loudly – that she’d figured it out, and that you let her know I was in on the secret, too. Thanks for that by the way.”

“Sorry.” Barry cringes. “Any chance you were able to talk her down some?”

Joe snorts in response to that and Barry shakes his head. “I don’t know what to do, Joe,” Barry says seriously.

“I don’t either, but unfortunately, that’s not the only reason I’m calling. Carol Abernathy was taken from custody last night. Someone burned a hole in the wall of her cell.”

“Helios,” Barry sighs. “Any clue where he took her?”

“I was hoping you’d have some idea.”

“I’m at STAR Labs now. Let me see if we can run facial recognition and find either one of them.” 

“After listening to her story last night, it might be too late. He already killed the other two involved in the construction of Eclipse. She may already be dead, Barry.”  
  
“No, I don’t think so,” Barry says. “He said something to Iris last night about wanting to ‘free’ the sun. He wants to use the Eclipse panels to destroy the sun so no one else can have the power to try to control it.”

“I’m not sure if you think you’re saying something comforting right now, but – ”

“If he wanted Abernathy dead, she’d be dead already. I don’t think he has everything he needs to complete his plan yet, and I think he took her to make her help him complete it.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“I’m going after him tonight.”

“Barry, please be careful. This guy is different than the meta-humans you’ve faced before. He – he believes in something.”

“Well, I believe in something too. And I’m not going to let him hurt anyone else, Joe.”

When Barry hangs up, Cisco has already run facial recognition and returned no hits. He shrugs at Barry. Barry thinks for a moment and then smiles. 

“Keep looking,” Barry calls to Cisco as he heads to grab his suit. “I have one other lead to follow.”

Iris is at home reading blog entries when the doorbell rings. She considers not answering it since there really aren’t many people she actually feels like talking to right now. But curiosity wins out, and she goes to the door. When she pulls it open, it’s with a heavy sigh. 

 “Eddie, I so don’t have the energy for a fight right now,” Iris says. “You clearly need some space, and I’m going to give that to you.” Iris goes to close the door, but Eddie stops it.

 “I heard Barton came after you last night,” Eddie says.

“Yeah,” she responds quietly.

“I also heard the Flash came to help you.”  
  
“Eddie – ” Iris begins exasperatedly.

“No,” Eddie corrects himself. “No. I didn’t mean it like that. I – Iris, I was so glad to hear that you were OK. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”

“Especially after how we left it?”  
  
“Especially after how we left it,” Eddie agrees. Iris steps aside and Eddie comes in.

They sit down at the kitchen table in silence and Eddie finally speaks.

“I shouldn’t have made you feel guilty about your relationship with Barry. And I shouldn’t have conflated it with my discomfort with the Flash, either. I wasn’t – that wasn’t fair.” 

Iris shifts uncomfortably. “Look, I never meant to make you feel like you were competing with anyone. My relationship with Barry is – complicated,” she responds heavily.

“I know. And I think that’s what’s so hard about it. It’s – you guys are so connected. You know each other better than anyone can ever hope to know either of you.”

“Not quite,” Iris says quietly. 

“I want to be the person that knows you best. But sometimes, I’m afraid you’re not emotionally available. Because of Barry.”

Iris gives a small smile with pursed lips.

“You know, I was only five when I asked my dad why I didn’t have a mom? He told me that I did have one. And that she had loved me very much. So much, that she let being my mother be the last thing she’d ever do because she knew it would be the best thing she’d ever do.”

“That’s a nice way to think about it.” Eddie looks at Iris sadly. She rarely talks about her mother, and when she does, he never knows what to say. It doesn’t really seem like  _I’m sorry_ can quite cover losing a mother during childbirth.

“It is,” Iris nods. “But it didn’t stop me from associating loving someone with losing them. Like, when you love someone, you have to lose them. Like it was automatic. It made me not want to love anyone.”

“That’s dark for a five-year-old.” 

Iris gives a small laugh. “I guess so. Though, it sounds darker than it was. That’s the thing about darkness. When you’re in it, it doesn’t seem all that dark. It’s just normal. You can’t see darkness until you’ve seen light. I honestly just thought that’s what love  _meant_. It wasn’t sad. It just…was.”

“But you don’t think that anymore. What changed?” Eddie asks.

“That was the same year I met Barry,” she smiles at the memory. “And then suddenly I had this person who got me and loved me and who I could love back. And it wasn’t scary anymore. In fact, it was kind of incredible. Loving Barry was how I learned to love anyone else. He was – he was my light.” 

She looks at Eddie who is looking down and puts her hand on his arm.

“What I’m trying to tell you is that you’re wrong. You think I’m not emotionally available because of Barry. But I’m  _only_  emotionally available because of Barry.”

“And that’s great, Iris, but. The way you talk about him. I only talk about you that way.”

“Eddie. You can’t possibly think I’m actually in love with Barry.”  
  
“I don’t.” Iris nods at that, but Eddie continues. “But I’m afraid that’s just because you just don’t see it yet. And when the light comes, you’ll realize that how you feel about me was just your eyes adjusting to darkness.”  
  
“Eddie, you could never be my darkness.”  
  
“But I’m also not your light.” Iris is quiet. She wants to stand up and grab Eddie and tell him he’s wrong, but she knows he’s not. And she hates Barry in that moment for continuing to be this important to her in spite of everything.

Eddie shakes his head sadly. “It’s OK, Iris. But I can’t bear to have to see the look on your face when the sun finally comes up.” Iris lets a tear fall down her face wordlessly. Eddie stands and then bends over to kiss her on the head. He whispers into her hair. “I really am glad you’re OK.”

She nods, and doesn’t look up as he lets himself out. 


	5. Dawn

“Barry, there could not be a worse time for – ” Iris doesn’t look up from where she is typing furiously at her computer when Barry sheepishly walks into the house. Eddie only left an hour ago, and in that time, she has reviewed five clips from writers applying to work for her blog and was writing two of them back to offer jobs writing for her. The pay she offers isn’t great, but it’s something. After her Helios piece went viral, she was contacted by a number of advertisers, meaning her blog will now be generating actual revenue, and she has decided to invest that money back into the site.

“Iris.” Barry breathes it, and it forces Iris to look up from her computer. In spite of herself, her face immediately reads concern. She stands up and walks toward Barry, still keeping her distance as she situates herself a few feet away from him.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I need your help.” Once Iris is satisfied that Barry is fine – physically at least – her face goes stony again.

“Ask my dad,” Iris snaps coldly. “Or Cisco or Dr. Wells or any of the other people you’ve known for  _five minutes_  but still trusted more than you trusted me to – ”

“Helios took Carrie,” Barry says urgently, and once again, despite her desire to stay angry, Iris’ face transforms to register sympathy. “He took her, and I don’t know where. I need your help. You got through to him, and I need your help. It’s not – I can’t think of anything  _less_  fair to ask you right now. I know you hate me, and you have every right to, I just – I have to stop him.  _We_  have to stop him.”

“But – why do you need  _me_?” Iris’ voice has lost its hardness, and all that is left is genuine confusion, which breaks Barry. He clenches his jaw to stop himself from crying at the realization that she is asking in earnest what should be an absurd question, and it’s his fault that to her, it seems perfectly reasonable.

“Iris, I – listen. Helios came to you. He softened when you asked him about the baby last night – he – he…trusts you. And I get that. Because I trust you. More than I trust anything.”

Iris shrugs and shakes her head sadly. “Barry, you’ve been searching for this since we were kids. Proof of the impossible, and a way…to help people. You finally found it. Everything you’ve always wanted, since we were kids, and you finally found it. How could you not want me to be a part of that?”

“Iris, I swear. You have been a part of this ever since I started helping people. You were the thing that made me believe I could do it. Not just to be fast, but to be brave. To be strong. To fight. You – you’re the voice I hear telling me what the right thing is. In pitch dark, you’re the one thing I can see. You – you’re my light.”

Iris’ face softens at that as Barry continues. “Just because I didn’t tell you about it right away doesn’t mean you haven’t been a part of this. The lightning made me fast, Iris. You made me the Flash.”

Iris’ face tells Barry that was exactly what she needed to hear. Her eyes look watery, but she’s not angry when she steps forward and takes his hand and gives it a small squeeze. “I should have known it was you anyway. Who else could it have been?” Iris gives a small smile and Barry lets out a breath he feels like he’s been holding since she left the rooftop the night before.

“I need you. Helios is out there. You heard him last night, Iris, his plan, will  _destroy_  the world.”

Iris nods and turns back toward her computer. “I’m still pissed at you, by the way,” she says and he can practically hear her smile.

“I know. I’m pissed at me too.” Barry agrees with a shrug. He follows her and stands behind her at her computer.

“OK, so we need to figure out where he took Carrie? What about SunClear?”

“The police already checked. Our theory is that there’s still something that he needs worked out in order to complete his plan, and only Carrie can help him with it. Is there anything you found out from your research? Or the documents I sent you?”

Iris shakes her head, and they are both silent for a moment, deep in thought.

“OK, so what do we know about his plan?” Barry begins. “He wants to absorb all the power in the sun…”

Iris shrugs. “Well, he can’t absorb _all_  the power of the sun.”

Barry looks at her quizzically and she continues. “Because it doesn’t all come to earth’s surface. Because of – what was it you told me that one morning – scattering? How the energy from the sun gets absorbed back into the atmosphere and that causes the colors we see at sunrise.”

Barry looks at Iris for a minute completely stunned. “You – you were paying attention to that?”

“I’m always paying attention to you,” Iris responds absently as if it’s the most obviously true statement in the world.

Barry’s face spreads into a slow smile. “Iris West. You’re a genius. Are you free right now?”

Iris looks confused but nods.

“Perfect. We’ve gotta run.”

Barry wraps his arms around Iris and grins. Iris squeezes her eyes shut, and when she opens them, she’s in STAR Labs. Barry doesn’t let go of her immediately. Instead, he begins rubbing her back and arms slowly and looking her up and down deliberately, smiling sheepishly when she raises her eyebrows. “Sorry,” he explains. “Sometimes the friction creates tiny…fires. I just wanted to make sure you’re all good.”

Iris breath hitches when she responds. “I’m – I’m all good.”

“Ms. West,” Dr. Wells drawls, forcing Barry and Iris to break eye contact and notice the rest of the team. “So good to have you join us.”

“Thanks,” Iris responds tentatively, gaining confidence after a warm smile from Caitlin. “I’m happy to help in any way I can.”

“She already has,” Barry explains. “Scattering. That’s what Helios still needs worked out before he completes his plan.”

Caitlin looks excited. “Yes! Of course! Absorption and scattering work together to make solar radiation palatable to the Earth’s surface. Eclipse is going to massively speed up the rate of absorption of solar radiation, but without the balance, Helios’ body won’t be able to withstand the power he’ll absorb. He’ll die before he completes his plan. He’ll have taken Abernathy somewhere light scatters easily.”

“Water,” Dr. Wells says knowingly. “Cisco, can you run facial recognition – ”

“Anywhere along the river, I got it,” Cisco intones. While Cisco continues to search, Caitlin and Barry exchange a look. Caitlin raises her eyebrows and nods toward Iris. Barry gives a tiny shrug, but he looks relieve, and Caitlin smiles happily in response.

“Iris,” Dr. Wells says softly and gestures for her to move aside with him. When she does, he looks at her seriously. “I hope you won’t be offended if I reiterate the importance of discretion. About all of this. Barry’s secret, of course, but also anything else you find out while you’re working with this team should be considered completely off the record.” Dr. Wells gives a small smile and Iris returns it, but she shifts uncomfortably for a reason she can’t explain.

“I’m here as a friend, not a reporter,” she promises and he nods.

“I’m not just talking about your blog,” he continues. “You date Detective Thawne?” Off her confused look he explains. “Your father mentioned it.” When she nods, he rushes on. “I have to ask that you keep everything we’re doing from him as well. I appreciate that keeping secrets like that in a romantic relationship can present a challenge, but I must insist – ”

“It’s fine. Eddie and I – we broke up, so…” Iris lets her voice trail off.

Dr. Wells gives a surprised look and Iris suspects he is stifling a small smile, which confuses her. “Well, I’m very sorry to hear that.”

Iris shrugs and eyes Dr. Wells suspiciously before making an excuse to go watch Cisco perform searches. Dr. Wells watches Iris walk away and gives a slow smile.

“Well, that certainly changes things,” he mutters under his breath.

It takes Cisco longer than he thought it would to locate Helios. It’s hours later and well into the night when he finally cheers. “Bingo! We got ‘em, baby! Man, woman, just entered a warehouse right on the riverbank. It has an eastern exposure from the rooftop, which is ideal for him to complete the Eclipse plan, plus we have a 72% match on facial recognition.”

“I feel like it should be higher,” Iris begins and Barry shakes his head with a chuckle.

“Don’t get him started,” Barry pleads, laughing at Cisco’s offended look.

“Well, we should go, right?” Iris asks and Dr. Wells looks alarmed.

“We? Iris, I understand you’re new to the team, but Barry goes, we help from here.”  
“I’m going,” Iris insists. “Barry said it himself. I’m the only one who’s been able to get through to him.”

“Forgive the pun, but I believe the sun has set on trying to get through to him. He’s killed two people, kidnapped one more, and is preparing to destroy the sun and all of us with it. And you’re plan is to – what? Ask him for an interview?”

“Actually, yes. That’s exactly my plan.” Iris says defiantly. “I have a killer follow-up question.”

“OK, stop,” Barry says. “I asked Iris to help because – yes – I think she can still get through to him. So far, everyone he’s hurt are the people responsible for hurting him.”

“Barry, if you bring her, and you’re wrong, she’s helpless.”

“I can get her and Carrie out before I fight him if I have to.”

Cisco chimes in. “Remember, you don’t have that much time. You need to dose him before dawn. He’s going to expend all of his energy fighting you because he knows the sun is coming up and he’ll be able to recharge. But he’ll only be weak until sunrise. You have a pretty small window.”

“I can do this. We can do this.” Barry looks at Iris and she smiles.

“Oh yeah. We got this.”

The trip to the river takes slightly longer than the trip to STAR Labs, but Iris still can’t believe how fast he can move. She’s seen it before, but now that she knows it’s Barry, there’s something even more unbelievable about it. She thinks back to all the moments she’s had with the Flash, trying to pinpoint the moment she should have known it was Barry. And suddenly something hits her that she is certain should have hit her before.

 _What other girls?_  
 _Did you break up?_  
 _You’re worth being on time for._  
The kiss.

Iris hadn’t known Barry was the Flash. But Barry knew who Iris was the whole time, so…Iris looks up at Barry as they stop outside of the warehouse.

Barry looks back down at Iris with a smile that slowly fades as he sees the furrowed brow on her face. “What’s wrong?” he asks softly.

She shakes her head, but he won’t let it go. “Come on, Iris. I thought we learned our lesson about keeping secrets from each other.” He gives a small smile of encouragement, and she relents.

“It’s just. On the rooftop the other night. You – you knew who I was and you still kissed me. You – Barry? Do you have feelings for me?”

Barry’s face goes slack, and he opens his mouth and closes it without any sound coming out. And at that moment, a solar blast emanates from the warehouse, and Barry grabs Iris and moves them closer to the warehouse so they can see in through a window.

“He’s got her tied up,” Barry whispers. “I’m going to distract him, you try to get Carrie untied and out of the building. Then you can try to reason with him. If it doesn’t work, I’m moving you out of there, and I’ll just keep him fighting me until sunrise. There’s not much more time before the sun comes up.”

“OK,” Iris agrees and takes Barry’s hand and gives it a squeeze. “This is going to work, right?”

“Oh yeah,” Barry says with a smile. “We got this.”

In an instant they’re inside the building. Barry deposits Iris behind Carrie. Iris quickly snakes a hand over Carrie’s mouth and whispers. “I’m here to help. Don’t say a word.” She quickly begins untying her ropes.

Meanwhile, Barry stands in front of Helios and doges a blast Helios throws his way.

“Clay Barton!” Barry yells. “You need to stop this. I understand what you’ve been through is awful, but your plan will destroy the world, and I’m not going to let you do that.”

Helios looks pityingly at Barry. “Do you ever ask yourself why? Why are you fight? What are you fighting for?” He throws another blast that Barry doges easily, and chances a look over to where Iris has almost freed Carrie.

“I spent my life as an environmentalist and a scientist. As a scientist, I was trained to believe in what I could prove – the evidence of my own eyes. But as an environmentalist, I took on faith that saving this planet – prolonging human existence – was a good thing. I never asked for proof. I never asked whether people deserved to live.”

“So now what? You’ve judged us all unworthy of existence? Because of how the people you loved hurt you?”

“The people I loved killed me!” Helios bellows as he throws another blast, this one blowing out one of the windows of the warehouse. “Clay Barton is dead. And I’m all that’s left.”

“How did you know she lost the baby?” Both Helios and Barry look up surprised. Iris is walking up behind Barry, and Barry notices then Carrie slips out of the building and breathes a sigh of relief.

“How did you know that Carrie lost the baby, Clay?” Iris asks again insistently. “When I asked you the other night, you told me she had lost the baby. How did you know? Did you ask her? In between burning the Plaza to a crisp and stealing the Eclipse plans?”

Helios shakes his head slowly, and allows his face to soften. “I – I…” he trails off as though trying to remember where he got the information.

“You checked.” Iris says simply. “You looked into her medical records, and you found out the same thing I found out when I did research on her. You saw that she was admitted to the hospital the same day that you died for exhaustion. You saw that she miscarried.  _You_  did that. Post-accident. The same man standing here is the man who checked to see if he had a baby. You say Clay Barton died? Fine. Then Helios did that. He cared if he had a child. And if he did that, I believe he is better than  _this_.”

Helios looks at Iris for a long moment, and underneath his dark glasses, a tear forms and rolls down his cheek, burning the cement floor of the warehouse when it falls.

“She – it took me a while to find her records. She didn’t check into the hospital as Carol Abernathy.”

Iris nods. “She checked in as Carrie Barton.”

“I don’t know how to live in this world as this.” Helios admits. “I’m – how can I be anything but a monster?”  
“You can imagine something better. Maybe you can be a dreamer.” Iris smiles and Helios smiles back. Iris takes a tentative step forward and Helios drops his hands in surrender.

Barry is so much in awe of Iris, he doesn’t see Carrie until it’s too late.

Carrie, who has been outside for the entire conversation, waited until Helios has positioned himself in front of the broken window to jump and grab him. She is holding a syringe that Barry guesses holds a compound similar to what Cisco gave him.

“Carol, no!” Barry yells and moves to grab her.

“Clay, no!” Iris yells almost simultaneously as Helios raises his hand and fires a blast into Carrie before Barry can reach her. Carrie’s lifeless body flies to the ground, and Helios looks just as shocked as Iris and Barry.

“Carrie.” Helios’ voice is barely a whisper. Another tear falls and sizzles the ground before Helios turns angrily to Iris. “Tell me now. Do you still think I’m better than this? Do you still think I deserve forgiveness? Salvation? Do any of us?”

Barry grabs Iris and takes her outside before returning to fight Helios. Iris runs to the broken window to try to get back in and sees Barry and Helios fighting fiercely. Barry is able to dodge most of the destruction Helios inflicts, and as sunrise creeps closer, he gets weaker. However, Barry is still unable to get close enough to him to use the syringe.

The fight rages on, and Iris climbs in through the window, staying out of view of both of them. When Helios finally does notice her, he aims a blast in her direction, and Barry is barely able to grab her and put her back outside through the window before it strikes. The angle of the throw puts Helios off balance, and as he takes a moment to reorient himself, Iris takes advantage of the break in action.

“Barry!” she yells urgently. “You have to hurry! You have less than two minutes until the sun comes up, and he’ll be able to recharge!”

Helios hears this and is shifts into high gear. Knowing he can recharge soon, he throws himself into the fight with renewed vigor, throwing blasts at speeds that Barry has a harder time dodging. After one close call, Barry dives for Helios, and is able to pull him to the ground right outside the window where Iris is watching. Barry is exhausted, and Helios is at his weakest.

But then Helios gives a sickeningly smug smile. “It was a valiant effort. But solar power is limitless, and the sun is coming up – ” Helios holds his hand up to catch the first rays of the sunrise and is shocked when a hand grabs his and pushes a syringe into his palm.

“In about ten minutes,” Iris says with a smile as she holds his hand and applies the cooling sedative. When she climbed through the window, she had grabbed the syringe Carrie dropped when she tried to attack Helios. She smiles triumphantly at Barry who looks at her amazed.

“Two minutes until sunrise, huh? You tricked me,” Barry complains with a grin.

Iris shrugs. “What can I say? I’m better at keeping secrets than you are.”

Barry calls Joe and lets him know where to find Carol Abernathy’s body. He and Iris bring Helios back to STAR Labs, where Cisco has created a cell for him that will give him enough sun exposure to keep him alive, but to keep his powers low.

“So.” Iris exhales as they leave STAR Labs together.

“So,” Barry agrees.

“This is – a lot.” Iris gestures grandly to everything.

“Yeah, I know. Look – Iris – I – don’t really know where to go from – ”

“Just look at it, Barry.” Iris looks toward the sky where the sun is rising, transforming the entire sky into a beautiful red.

Barry grins at her and looks up. “It’s beautiful,” he agrees. And suddenly, nothing feels urgent to either of them. Not the tension that was still between them that Barry kept this secret from her, not the difficulty that would undoubtedly arise from Iris’ writing and Barry’s life as the Flash, not the gnawingly uneasy feeling Iris has about Dr. Wells, not even continuing the conversation they started outside the warehouse. Right now, they would just watch the sun come up, and enjoy the feeling of possibility that came from the start of a new day. Finally, it was dawn.


End file.
